A motor vehicle is provided with a foot brake that is actuated by foot and a lever actuated parking brake that restricts the rear wheels of the vehicle when it is operated by hand. Alternatively, a parking brake that is actuated by foot is widely provided in some luxury cars.
Conventional parking brake levers typically have a release button at the end. However, the conventional parking brake lever has a problem in that the braking condition of a vehicle may be released immediately and unintentionally if the push button is inadvertently pressed, potentially causing an accident.
Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-261194 discloses a technique that attempts to resolve this problem. In the proposed structure, a pawl forms part of a ratchet mechanism for locking the lever. A groove is provided in the pawl and a buffering spring is provided in the linkage between the button and pawl. The buffering spring is intended to buffer the force that is transmitted from push button to alleviate unintended release. However, repeatedly pressing the push button causes fatigue of the buffering spring, thereby fracturing the buffering spring.